I have been thinking a lot about passion lately and recently wrote about it in a Public Libraries article. Today I read a blog that brought libraries into the picture more solidly for me. So my trendwatching blog today centers on Geekdom. Joe Peacock, a self anointed Nerd, Geek, Super-fan states today in a CNN Blog titled Geek Out. “We know who you are. You shine like a beacon. Geeks aren’t blind: We see you, geek poser…We know it’s suddenly cool to be smart and passionate. Those qualities earned us derision and exclusion from our peers at one point, and the term ‘geek’ was thrown at us like it was meant to stab us in the heart. But now, it’s become something of an honorific.These days, people actually want to be us – kind of.”

Joe defines Geek for us by saying,

“‘Geek’ is what happens when passion overrides your need to be accepted or fit in. It’s loving something so much that you throw yourself wholeheartedly into it.

For some reason, “geek” has become the label that the mainstream has placed on a culture that mixes comic book fandom, sci-fi and fantasy movies, and tech consumerism. And those things all together have become very popular. So the trend is to call yourself “geeky” if you like them.

But that’s the problem. Those things aren’t the sum total of geekdom. Geek isn’t a scene. It’s not a fashion. It’s not a lifestyle. It’s a life – my life. Geek is who you are. When geek posers are off doing the next trendy thing and “geek” is, like, so 2012, we will still be us.

It’s a lot of work to be a geek: to be smart and passionate while ostracized and isolated because our intensity makes us weird. It is absolutely easier to buy the shirt and wear the geek label, because by doing so, you get to become smart and passionate by association.

I’ll be the first to admit, right now, we geeks are indulging a little. It feels good to be validated in mainstream society and, even if it’s a whisper, to say ‘we told you so.’”

Libraries, the original geek haven, have also come close to being in vogue lately. What better place to study your passion?